Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

Emerald Catherine |9 Months

Emerald’s first Christmas has come and gone and I am still in disbelief the the year of her birth is gone. But I can’t be sad too long because this little girl is so full of light and joy. She keeps getting more fun and spunky, I just love being around her.

At nine months Emerald is 28.5 inches long (91% ) and 18 lbs 8 oz (60%) BMI 30%. Emmy is wearing size 3 diapers, and is wearing mostly 9 or 12 month size clothes but 9 month pants are getting short on her so we will be putting those away soon.

Feeling good on Christmas Eve

EAT

We are making slow progress on eating with Emmy. She is eating much more when we spoon feed her things like yogurt, cottage cheese and pouches.

She will also eat soft solids like eggs or avocado but only if we feed them to her, If we put food in front of her she will pick it up and play with it. She will put other things in her mouth like toys or my sweater but never food. I keep reminding myself that she will feed herself one day.

SLEEP

Sleep continues to go well for us. Overnight she sleeps from 7pm until 5:30 -6:00 am everyday. If I could figure out how to get her to sleep later that would be great.

We are solidly down to three naps a day now and I am so happy to have solidified a schedule. It seems to work for us that Emmy goes down for her first nap early between 7:30 and 8:00 am so that we are ready to go out for mid-morning activities. Then she goes down again after lunch around noon. Then most days she takes a short nap around 4:00 pm unless we are out and she skips her nap then we just try to get her to be a little early.

GROW

Emerald is a crawling expert and gets everywhere she wants to go. The days of sitting her down while I got something done are gone.

She is pulling herself up on everything and cruising and getting into everything.

Cannon is getting nervous

She is really starting to babble a lot and says, Dada, Mama, Baba it’s so sweet hearing her little voice. She is also waving a little and clapped once.

PLAY

We had so much fun this last month celebrating Christmas

Playing at the park
Playing in the snow
Playing “fort” with Cannon

She makes everyday brighter and we couldn’t love her more.

Past Monthly Updates

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2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

Changing Plans

You know what they say about making plans……

I had my race plans for spring and summer all laid out, you can find it here. But as things tend to do some changes came up and plans had to change, a bit.

February 14th – MOAB Red Hot 55k and 33k – Did Not Race! I started my new job on February 2nd and did not feel it was ok to ask for a day off in my second week of work. If this had been an A race I may have but it was just for fun. I thought about leaving after work but that would have had us in town 2 am the day of the race, didn’t seem worth it.

March 15th – Run Through Time Trail Marathon Another did not run. After not getting to run Red Hot, I was bummed about not getting to race in Moab and not feeling super excited about running a marathon. Since I hadn’t yet signed up I started trolling for another race, hopefully in Moab. I officially decided not to race Run Through Time when I found…..

March 28th – Behind the Rocks 50k Soooooo excited and it’s this Saturday. A little freaked out that it’s going to be almost 90 degrees and I have been running in conditions more like this:

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May 2nd – Collegiate Peaks 50 Mile trail race – this is a big stretch, if necessary I could drop to the 25 mile but for now I gunning for the big show. – UPDATE, will be dropping to the 25 miler. Turns out 50 milers aren’t great training. (rest of my races are staying the same for now…)

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 June 13th – Ironman Boulder 70.3 – I raced this in 2013 and really liked it.

July 26th – Ironman Canada  I have unfinished business with with IM Canada and I am determined to show up ready to race in 2015.

The rest of the year will be focused on trails….hopefully the big show in November.

Another big change is that I started working with a coach again, it’s no nice to have someone else take the driver seat and help me get out of my head. This year I will be working with the amazing Beth Gerdes again =)

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Currently // March 4, 2015

Life // Things have just been chugging along lately which is nice with so much change last year. Life has just been about family, work, training and spending time watching movies with our pups. I am ready for winter to be over, I shouldn’t complain since we need the snow and would hate to have a drought but I always get impatient this time of year for spring. All the advertisements show flowers, sundresses and sunshine while the weather report shows highs in the teens and feet of snow.

Career // I can’t believe I have been in my new job for a month already, the time has just flown by! I really love what I am doing and feel at home with the people I work with and the students. My commute is beautiful and I feel very lucky to work with such amazing brilliant people.

Reading // I am currently reading two books, I am almost done with Pam Reeds The Extra Mile 

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and The Forgotten Garden  I haven’t gotten very far with this book yet but my mom said that she loved it and couldn’t put it down.

Training // after a couple months of base training on my own I have started training with a coach again. I am working with Beth Gerdes, super mom, professional triathlete, very supportive and all around kick ass person. I really think working with a coach is the best money spent on triathlon, it saves me a lot of time and it’s nice to have someone to obsess about your data with.

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Lot’s of training has been happening inside or out in the frigid cold. I am ready for spring! It will be nice when I can run out the door of my office to hit the trails without putting on 17 layers.

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Eating // I found the best kale chips at Costco and am loving them!

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Also I am trying to eat clean, but it’s SO hard after a 20 mile run not to fall face first into a double cheese burger!

Currently // January 2015

I am shamelessly stealing this post idea from Erin who does great currently posts.

Life // lately has been a whirlwind, but in a good way. I had some graduate work to finish up and a crazy schedule to juggle. Feels good to wrap up some loose ends but it meant my schedule was not my own and long days.

Career // knew that I wanted to find work at the collegiate level but worried it would take a while. University jobs can be hard to find and competitive to land so I thought that I would even have to consider moving. Lucky for me the stars aligned and a job was posted at University of Colorado that seemed like a great fit. I applied thinking it was a long shot, got a first interview and tried not to get my hopes up, got a second interview and couldn’t help but get my hopes up. I really like all the people I met in my interviews, so I worried it was too good to be true. I waited knowing they were interviewing the other candidates, waited knowing that these things take time, checking references, getting university approval, etc. Exactly two weeks after my second interview I got the call, the job was mine, and I couldn’t be more excited.

CUTraining // has not been as consistent as I would like but that is changing this week. I start official Ironman Canada base training this week, hoping to get some swimbikerun fitness back. My schedule will be evening out and while I won’t have a ton of free time starting a new job but I will have a chance to set up my routine.

Reading // Hal Koerner’s Field Guide to Ultrarunnig, I haven’t gotten very far but it seems like a great intuitive, practical book.

 

Also I am reading Girl on the Train, I haven’t finished it yet so don’t tell me anything!

Watching // The Killing, it’s so addicting! And the new season of the Bachelor, it’s so trashy I know but it makes the time go by on the trainer.

So that’s January, I can’t believe it’s almost over!